The Rhubarb Triangle And Other Stories: Photographs By Martin Parr

‘arguably Britain’s greatest living photographer’
The Telegraph

The Hepworth Wakefield presented the largest Martin Parr exhibition in the UK since 2002, comprising more than 370 photographs that spanned the past 40 years.

The exhibition displayed a chronological overview of Parr’s celebrated works, including rarely seen images from his series The Non-Conformists taken at the beginning of his career reflecting his experiences of living in Yorkshire, and The Last Resort, documenting leisure time in the seaside town of New Brighton.

The Rhubarb Triangle, a new commission, lay at the heart of the exhibition; it comprises a series of photographs taken over the last 12 months in an area of countryside known as ‘The Rhubarb Triangle’ between Wakefield, Morley and Rothwell in West Yorkshire, which is famous for producing early-forced rhubarb.

Parr’s photographs capture all aspects of the rhubarb business, from the back-breaking work of moving the rhubarb from field to shed, the freezing cold and exhausting labour of picking the vegetable by candlelight (or occasionally by head-torch), and the consumption of the rhubarb by coach parties and food tourists.

The exhibition was accompanied by a publication on The Rhubarb Triangle featuring an essay by Martin’s partner, Susie Parr.